I’ll try it. Ganked from escapingatrophy

I wouldn’t call this so much a challenge as I would call this an opportunity to share a snippet of my weirdness.

The Challenge:

Post 3 things you’ve done in your lifetime that you don’t think anybody else on your friends list has done. See if anybody else responds with “I’ve done that.” If they have, you need to add another!(2.b., 2.c., etc…)Have your friends cut & paste this into their journal to see what unique things they’ve done in their life.

I have:

1. Toured Europe with a band twice.
2. Had coffee with Denise Richards (like, at the same table chatting, not in the same general area)
3. Gotten complimented on my musical ability by Ringo Starr.

Just about ready

Ok, so I’m mostly packed except for the stuff I’m going to need for tonight and tomorrow.

I have all my paperwork in order

I sent out my Out of Office (and still responded to a debate on how to deal with Iron among the ARSTs)

M’lady is headed to Her parents’ place.

I have directions printed out.

The house is clean enough for me to return to.

My camera is clear of old pictures and has new batteries in it.

…

What do I do now?

Practice guitar, I suppose.

[Trusted] Cam Rant

Can we please, for the love of God and all that is holy, get an ARST Mage that knows the system? How about one who understands the most basic concepts of the game?

So, I’ve got my custom Legacy in the system and it’s being held up at High because James Nail doesn’t understand that you can’t use the Death Arcanum in the Shadow. He actually said that he really liked the idea, but the dealbreaker is, “The primary arcanum for this legacy needs to be Death, not Spirit.Shaping and/or manipulating epherma is the purview of Death (note it is listed first in “Otherworldly Instrument”.)”

OK, let’s break down this statement into itty bitty pieces. First, where on Earth did he get the idea that Death is the Arcanum for shaping “epherma”? Ephemera is a catch-all term for otherworldly stuff. I make it clear from context and the fact that it does use the Spirit Arcanum that I’m talking about ephemera from the Shadow. How does he think to use Death in the Shadow? It’s like trying to perform surgery over a webcam with a plastic knife. Not only is it the wrong tool, it’s impossible. And it’s not like it hasn’t been made clear in every damn Mage book that Spirit deals with Spirits and the Shadow, and Death deals with Ghosts and Twilight. There’s no ambiguity about that. The point of Otherworldly Instrument (Tome of the Mysteries p. 18 if you were wondering) is that it makes stuff out of material from either other world that can be used by beings from both. I’m seriously paring the fucking power down by only having it affect one side.

Now, this ludicrous idea that Death is somehow more important in the spell because it’s listed first is really driving me up the wall. “Death” is listed first because in every multi-Arcanum spell in every Mage book that is not specifically listed as an “[Arcanum] rote”, the Arcana are listed in alphabetical order. This is not hard to figure out. We’re not talking about deciphering the Enigma code. He doesn’t need the White Wolf Rosetta Stone to break this semaphore. It’s not like somebody gave him a Vernam cipher and a pencil and said “have at.” It’s really, really obvious. More importantly, we can look at this from the other way and say that there is nothing, not a thing, not one single instance in any of the books, that indicates that anything other than level of mastery makes any Arcanum in any creative thaumaturgy more important than any other. I mean, what are the odds that it’s entirely arbitrary? That maybe they don’t actually expect anyone to be so ridiculously anal as to assume that the order in which the Arcanum are listed in any way affects which is “more important”? That perhaps they had to put one of the two first, so they went with that one considering both required the same level of mastery?

Now, I don’t think James is a bad guy. I don’t think he’s particularly stupid. In fact, he was very polite and encouraging about the whole thing and willing to work with me. But I still shouldn’t have to explain such a basic concept as “Spirit works in the Shadow, Death works in Twilight, and never the twain shall meet” to the ARST Awakening. I admit that I don’t know the details of every Contract, and I have a lot less to work with, but you don’t have to explain to me that the Spring Court isn’t better than the Summer Court because it comes first in the book, or that you can’t shape the real world the same way you can the Hedge. I feel like I should take James aside and give him the same speech I give IC to new Mages, explain the Watchtowers, the Arcana, basic magical theory, etc.

And that’s another thing, ICly that’s just bad magical theory. No part of a spell is more important than another. That’s like me trying to build a swing set and wondering, “So, is this screw or this nut more important? Think I can do without the screw because it’s really the nut that does the attaching?” And, again, it’s not like I’m making a swing set for all the little ghosts and spirits to play together on. I’m making a desk for the little spirits to do their homework on and the little ghosts can find their own goddamn desk. Yes, I’m really stretching that metaphor, but I’m so irritated at the moment.

EDIT:

Further, and this isn’t anyone’s fault, but both Christian and James informed me that national and global won’t approve optional 1st Attainments. Yet, taking a random sample of Attainments on the Wiki I found several with them. Granted, some were shields and sights, but some were just adaptations of the Attainment, which is what mine is. So, why wouldn’t mine get approved when several others already have?

Torchwood season 2

I just finished watching Torchwood season 2. My God in heaven was that last episode a tearjerker. I’m still shaking from it. I have to say, this season was, as much as I liked the last one, leaps and bounds more amazing than last season. They managed to plant just the right amount of information throughout it so that it came to an amazing conclusion with intersecting points from all of the previous episodes. I am just so impressed with how they did this season (series). Now, I should get some rest as I just finished prepping tomorrow’s lessons, mostly.

Update of sorts

Let’s do this in bullet-list form:

Things to do:

– Book bachelor party
– See who will be there and not
– Practice guitar
– Prep tomorrow’s lessons
– Double check cruise stuff
– Organize clothes and come up with packing list
– Make dinner
– Run to store and pick up remaining items
– Run scenes
– Check crack-tastic board that I’ve been neglecting
– Figure out when I need to pay bills that I’ll be gone for
– Make copies
– Find somebody with color ink that can print stuff for me for next week
– Download music for party
– Stop wasting time on LJ posts

Wish me luck, ladies and gentlemen. This is going to be a long week and a half until I can relax at sea.

Real quick update

I should have more to say later, but for now I’m going to be leaving for New Smyrna Beach for the weekend.

Good things in my life:

1.Got my passport today. While I ordered the new card, which is $50 cheaper, they sent me the booklet instead without charging me more!

2. Applied for a job at my apartment complex leasing office. Don’t know how much it’ll pay, but it’s something, and I’ve been living here for seven years. I know the place. Hopefully, they’ll feel that way too.

3. Going to spend an excellent weekend with M’lady and her parents on the beach. Cookout. Bison burgers. Intelligent (or at least amusing) debate. All things I like.

4. Jake’s Bachelor party plans are going great. Going to be legendary. Legen….wait for it….dary.

5. A friend is coming into town this week and I’ll get to see her, which is always a plus. I’m going to try and forget that she’s the third person in as many months that I know that is moving away.

6. Really think things are looking up more and more. I can’t help but feel like everything’s going to start getting that much better now.